Jim Thorpe chess players rank first, second in state

Monday, March 22, 2010

VICTOR IZZO/SPECIAL TO THE TIMES NEWS The JTASD Chess Team members pictured with the trophies they won at the 2010 Pennsylvania State Scholastic Chess Championships in Carlisle are, from left: Christian Hauze, who won first place in the High School U1000 section; JTASD Chess Coach Eric Hill; and Glen Zaengle who won second place in the same section.

By VICTOR IZZO TN Correspondent tneditor@tnonline.com

Members of the Jim Thorpe Area School District Chess team, along with their chess coach Eric Hill, traveled to Carlisle earlier this month to compete in the 2010 Pennsylvania State Scholastic Chess Championships.

Two members of the team took top honors in the High School U1000 section, in which 100 students from 17 schools throughout the state of Pennsylvania competed.

Senior Christian Hauze won first place in that section. He was the only undefeated player with a perfect 5.0 score.

Senior Glen Zaengle won second place in the same section. He scored 4.5 out of a possible 5.

Ken Outwater and Zaengle also won first place in the U700 bughouse chess tournament. Bughouse chess is an exciting, fast-paced team chess game where two players must work together to win.

Hauze, Zaengle, Outwater, Catherine Nonnemacher, and Ashley Klotz finished sixth overall out of 17 schools that competed in the High School U1000 section of the state tournament.

The State Chess Championships were held on March 6-7, with the students playing three rounds on Saturday and two rounds on Sunday for a total of five rounds.

The state matches are played with a time control of 90 minutes for each student to make all of their moves and a game can last up to three hours.

Regular season matches are played with a time control of 60 minutes for each student to make all their moves. A regular season game can last up to two hours.

Jim Thorpe competes against all the Mountain Valley Conference Schools during the regular season, which follows the winter sports schedule from November to February.

They play the following schools twice (one home and one away match): Lehighton, Pleasant Valley, Stroudsburg, East Stroudsburg North, East Stroudsburg South, Pocono Mountain East and Pocono Mountain West.

The JTASD Chess team consists of 14 players during the regular season, consisting of nine varsity players and five junior varsity players.

In addition to the chess team, Jim Thorpe also has a chess club where all students are invited to learn how to play chess or play for fun.

It meets from October to March, when they do not have a scheduled chess match.